Coinbase Custody, the custodial service arm of the US popular crypto exchange, now supports Filecoin (FIL) ahead of its mainnet launch today.
Filecoin, developed by Protocol Labs, is a cryptocurrency-powered storage network. The community-driven, decentralized, Blockchain -based marketplace is meant to enable users to buy and sell unused storage on the network using its native coin FIL.
The project has been under development for three years and is best described as the blockchain version of Dropbox or Google Drive. Miners earn Filecoin by providing open hard-drive space to the network, while users spend Filecoin to rent space and store their files encrypted in the decentralized network.
In 2017, amid the peak of ICO and cryptocurrency hype, the distributed file sharing protocol raised nearly $180 million in a few minutes.
The addition to Coinbase Custody comes as major exchanges, including Gemini and Kraken are lending support to the coin even before the mainnet launch.
“We’re thrilled that Coinbase Custody is providing secure custody for FIL. Coinbase has a great track record of building new, innovative tools for its users,” said Juan Benet, Filecoin project founder.
Coinbase revealed earlier that it is evaluating the addition of FIL among other tokens, but said it does not guarantee that all of them will be listed for trading, as “adding new assets requires significant exploratory work from both a technical and compliance standpoint.”
Coinbase Custody is part of Coinbase which claims over 25 million global customers and is also ranked as the largest platform for cryptocurrency trading and other related services in the US. The service has scaled to serve more than 500 clients and $15 billion in crypto assets under custody.
Coinbase custody service, which safeguards Cryptocurrencies and digital tokens in a manner similar to traditional securities, has also partnered with several broker-dealers to provide its clients with access to its product.
